hadith, or a similar version. Likewise, his saying:

“Disputation about the Quran is disbelief.”

Likewise, the report recorded by both al-Bukhārī and Muslim in their Sahīh collections:

“Āishah, may Allah be pleased with her, reported that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, recited His words:

‘It is He who has sent down to you the Book; in it are verses that are clear—they are the foundation of the Book—and others that are ambiguous. As for those in whose hearts is deviation, they follow what is ambiguous in it, seeking discord and seeking its interpretation.’

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, then said: ‘When you see those who follow what is ambiguous in it, they are the ones Allah has named, so beware of them.’”

As for the Book and the Sunnah forbidding knowledge of matters that properly belong to the fundamentals of religion, this cannot be the case—unless, of course, they prohibit some of this in certain circumstances, such as addressing someone with something beyond his understanding, thereby leading him astray. This is illustrated by the statement of Abd Allāh ibn Masʿūd:

No man relates to people something beyond their understanding without its becoming